Inside the Beltway

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Carville's conflict

Would the real James Carville please stand up?

The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the pre-eminent media watchdog, previously lamented cable-TV shows whose ideas of news "is to slap two campaign officials on air ... with a moderator trying (or frequently not bothering to try) to penetrate the blizzard of spin."

"Often, we've thought, the cable channels might just as well dispense with the journalistic camouflage," CJR states. "Now, CNN has done just that -- made it official. Paul Begala and James Carville, 'from the left' co-hosts of CNN's 'Crossfire,' late last week joined the Kerry campaign as advisors -- and will be continuing their work on CNN."

CJR says "concurrently working for a news organization and a political campaign seems an obvious conflict of interest to us."

CNN spokesman Matt Furman counters that there is no conflict because Mr. Begala and Mr. Carville's advisory roles with Sen. John Kerry's campaign are "informal." This columnist ducked into Mr. Carville's Alexandria office over the weekend and got handed the following statement:

"[H]is current title is 'CNN Crossfire Host and Democratic Strategist.' In addition, he has no official role with the Kerry/Edwards Campaign. Mr. Carville describes himself as a Democratic strategist with strong opinions. Only Mr. Carville is to be responsible for what he says, not CNN, the Kerry/Edwards Campaign, or anyone else."

Truth be told, Mr. Carville is waiting for 2008, when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, will likely run for the White House.

"I certainly would beg her to run," Mr. Carville told Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" late in 2003. "Absolutely. I'd be the first on board there."